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2 Introduction Technology is undergoing constant change and rapid improvements. Some changes are incremental in nature and easy to deploy, others are much more revolutionary and difficult to realize. For example, the introduction of high definition flat screen TV changed the experience of watching a movie. For individuals, it is quite reasonable to assume that one might upgrade to a new high definition TV and enjoy the new picture quality. On the other hand, asking a hotel chain to rollout new HD TVs across the entire corporation worldwide may be a challenging undertaking. As IT professionals, we face a similar issue. It is easy enough for an end user to switch from spinning disk to flash disk and enjoy the benefits of this new technology. It is almost impossible for a corporation to replace its entire storage infrastructure and upgrade to newer technology. Not only would all of the remaining value of the current storage infrastructure be lost, but it would also require hundreds of terabytes (TB) or even pedabytes (PB) of data to be migrated. As a result, the adoption of flash storage has been slow and many companies are forced to stay with their current infrastructure. The HyperQ storage router provides the perfect solution to this problem. The storage router transparently sits on top of any existing storage infrastructure and immediately brings the benefits of flash storage. This is done without the need to migrate data or to replace existing storage. The HyperQ TM can be used to accelerate existing, traditional storage tiers or it can help to augment newer converged infrastructure deployments. Once the HyperQ TM storage router is deployed, every interaction with the existing storage tier is passed through the SSD cache providing the full speed of flash storage. Since the storage router is a pass-through device, the benefits of the flash storage can be deployed within minutes without the need to disrupt the clients that are accessing the storage layer. Deploying flash storage has never been easier or more affordable. Figure 1 The HyperQ The HyperQ storage router can be equipped with up to 3TB SSD cache per node, to handle all active data and turn any spinning disk array into a supercomputing storage tier. Along with its bonded 10 GE interfaces, a single storage router can provide a 2

3 sustained throughput between 1.2 to 1.5 GB/sec with extraordinarily fast IOPS - perfect for high performance computing challenges. Flash Storage Today As more and more virtualized environments are deployed, the ever-growing demand for higher performance can no longer be satisfied with spinning disk. The benefits of colocating multiple virtual environments into a single host are quickly forgotten when the host reboots and several VMs are booting at the same time bringing the disk I/O to a grinding halt. Traditional spinning disk was not built to support the high density compute work load virtualization has brought to the table. As a result, we experience major performance issues waiting for the storage tier to respond. To solve this problem, storage vendors have brought forward different solutions: a) Hybrid flash arrays b) Converged infrastructure with SSD / flash cache c) All flash arrays All of the above solutions will help address the problem, but all of them have one major downside: They all require a complete migration of the data from the current infrastructure onto the new platform. It also means that the existing infrastructure will become obsolete and all its remaining value will become lost. Cost: The cost of such a deployment is not limited to the hardware cost associated with the new infrastructure. In many cases, the labor involved and the business impact of the migration project exceeds the cost of capital purchase and makes the transition a very painful one. Furthermore, typically data can only move in one direction during these migrations, making it very difficult to change back if things don t work out. 3

4 Flash Storage with the HyperQ Parsec Labs created a unique solution that can be deployed on top of the existing storage and provides 6x to 10x faster access to the data at a very reasonable cost. The deployment of the HyperQ storage router can be done in less than 30 minutes and the benefits of accelerated access are effective immediately - without any impact or configuration change to the machines accessing the storage. When the HyperQ storage router is first deployed, it appears to be a pass-through device. All the existing data is still accessible and unchanged. The first noticeable impact is the faster access to the existing data. The massive network bandwidth of the HyperQ, along with its very high end CPU and memory, provides extremely fast access to the SSD (flash) cache making the storage instantly more responsive to clients accessing it. Once set up, the administrator can easily create new policies to optimize the performance of the SSD cache and implement intelligent archiving. In addition, the HyperQ provides the ability to replicate data to remote or DR sites, as well as, an easy way to expand the storage capacity with a few clicks into a larger, single name space, eliminating the challenge of reallocating storage to different clients and reconfiguration that comes along with a storage tier change. 4

5 Key Features: 1. Acceleration Acceleration reduces latency and increases burst throughput and IOPS to existing storage by means of SSD write cache in the HyperQ. Acceleration is especially beneficial for database and virtual machine performance. 2. Policy Based Prefetch of Data The HyperQ provides the ability to ensure that an active dataset is always ready to go in the SSD cache providing the best performance possible. The HyperQ features a policy engine that will automatically pre-load the cache with relevant data to ensure that editing and rendering will perform at peak levels. 3. Expansion Expansion allows a managed file system to overflow to newly added storage without service interruption or complicated configuration / migration steps. Even as a file system overflows to the configured target storage, all files appear to fully reside in the original file system; the managed file system simply appears to be larger. 4. Migration Migration allows infrequently accessed data to automatically migrate under control of user-defined migration policy to lower-cost, lower-performance storage, increasing available capacity for more frequently accessed data; with automatic retrieval to higher-performance media when appropriate. This enables optimal exploitation of storage media according to cost. For example, inactive data can be automatically migrated to slower, larger, lower-cost media, while active or warm data can be stored on the high-performing SSD or SAN on the local network. Irrespective of where a file physically resides, it always appear to remain in the managed file system. Migration is fully transparent to applications that access migrated files. Dramatically reducing cost: Deploying an all flash array can easily cost $30 per GB. A 24 TB storage array would quickly reach the level of $700,000. In contrast a solution using enterprise class NAS storage would cost less than $10,000 for 50 TB. The HyperQ high performance storage router services which can transform that NAS storage into virtual flash array starts as low as $1,000 a month. There is no additional cost for labor. A Closer Look The HyperQ Architecture Hardware: The HyperQ is delivered as a standard 1U rack-mount server chassis or as a desktop server. This server is constructed with cutting edge processing capability using the latest CPUs from Intel coupled with the strategic application of award winning solid state drives (SSDs) in order to deliver significant performance advantages. The HyperQ also features multiple 1GigE or 10GigE network interfaces in order to provide optimal network throughput. 5

6 The HyperQ is inserted into your storage environment between shared storage and the clients. It also acts as a router and cloud gateway. Figure 3 Depiction of the HyperQ in Your Environment Software: The HyperQ consists of the following software components: 1. A Linux operating system. 2. The Parsec File System manages file system expansion and data migration between storage tiers at the sub-file level. 3. The Parsec Cache Manager that exploits SSD and HDD storage in the HyperQ for storage acceleration. 4. The Parsec Migration Engine that selects files for migration according to migration policy. Once a file is selected for migration, the migration engine interacts with the Parsec File System to relocate the file. A migration policy is typically executed periodically, and can also be executed as a one-time event. 5. Diagnostic utilities for The Parsec File System. 6. A web GUI for HyperQ configuration. 7. Diagnostic tools, including reporting and telemetry. 6

7 Figure 3 Inside the HyperQ How to deploy, administer, and monitor the HyperQ : The Storage Administrator s job is done in four easy steps: 1. Configure new IP address for existing file server from which managed file systems are exported. 2. Define target storage for migration and/or expansion. 3. Define managed file systems. 4. Configure migration policies. A single dashboard that depicts local storage and cloud storage usage allows ongoing monitoring of the HyperQ and file servers. It is simple and efficient, yet effective. Key Advantages Virtualize and Accelerate Existing Storage Virtualize your data and remove the boundaries between islands of individual storage devices. Use the HyperQ and your existing storage will perform better than you thought possible. Simple Deployment and Management The HyperQ will seamlessly integrate with the existing network, no changes are required on existing servers that access the storage. After the HyperQ is deployed;; its management GUI will allow the admin to manage the entire storage through a single pane of glass. Cloud Gateway - Utilize cloud storage as needed. Never run out of storage again. 7

8 WAN Optimization the HyperQ has special provisions to optimize WAN traffic between sites and to the cloud. Scalability Scale to your needs in cost and storage requirements. Choose between cost-effective pricing tiers. Conclusion The HyperQ offers a unique storage innovation that will make flash performance affordable. Users can use existing storage arrays or deploy / expand using reasonably priced high density storage solutions all while getting full flash performance through the HyperQ storage router. This advanced solution is assembled at a fraction of the cost of current flash disk solutions. Contact Us Parsec Labs, LLC Northland Circle North, Suite 105 Brooklyn Park, MN USA

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